Absorption process



May 5,

E. H. WESTLING ABsoRPTIoN PROCESS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 12, 1922 INVENTOR. [A7/C H. WZZSTL Y6f Bwig .WIT/X555.

ATTORNEYS.

lllatente'tl May 5, 19,125.

' UNITED 4STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERIC HJ'ALMAR WESTLING, 0F BEDWOOD CITY, CALIIEBNI1 .ABSORPTION PROCESS,

Application filed June 12,' 1922. serial No. 567,733.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ERIC HJALMAR llVVEs'r- LING, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Redwood City, in the county ot San Mateo and State of California, am the inventor of a new an useful Absorption Process, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the absorpition 'l0 and condensation of gases or vapors in a.

20 Another object of my invention is to cause such absorption to taken place while the liquid is in a finely divided state so as to present a relatively large surface to the gases. i Still another object of my invention is to provide for the atomization of the gases so that the liquid ma the more readily be condensed after the a sorption has taken place.

The invention possesses other advantageous features, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth at length in the tollowin description where l shall outline in full t ose yemloodixr'ients of the invention which I have selected foriliustration in the drawings accompanying and forming part of thel resent specification. 1in the drawings, I ave shown several forms et the apparatus of my inventlon, but 1t 1s to be understood that'I do not limit myself to 40 those forms,` since the invention as expressed 'in the claims may be embodied in other forme aswell. y Referring to the drawin s:

Figure 1 is a viewfmai y diagrammatic, of vone form of apparatus embodying my invention; and l r Fig. 2 is a modication. l In the modication shown in Fi 1, there is a tower 11, within which the a sorption and condensation takes place.. lThe operation of the tower will be described'in connection with theproduction of nitric acid l `by the conversion of nitric fumes in the presence of oxygen and wateril. The summary of the reactions is The stages of this reaction are well known and need not be described.

, `Within the tower 11 there is a small quantity of water or weak acid 12. The incoming mixture of air and nitric fumes pass through the inlet or nozzle 13, the opening of which is below the level of the liquid 12. It issurrounded by a pipe 14 supported from the bottom of tower 11, through which pipe the liquid 12 is propelled by the gas.. The

nozzle 13 is directed toward a batiie plate 15.V

This plate has a lower surface 16 shown as convex. but it may, if desired. be concave or flat. The mixture ot gas and liquid,-which has appreciable kinetic energy, is thrown with considerable force from the nozzle .13 against' the lower surface 16, and is-shattered into a fine spray or fogof minute liquid particles. This fog represents a very large surface of contact between the gas and the liquid and for this reason chemical action and absorption are facilitated. There is also an atomizing effect upon the gas due to the impact upon the baille plate l5. This ionization assists the condensation into fog, since it serves to overcome the surface tension` to the liquid.

The acid fog and unabsorhed gases 'and vapors enter the cooling and spray collection coil 17 located above the tower 11. This mixture follows the convolutions of the turns; and the consequent changes in direction of iiow, together with the inertia of the globules, acts in a way similar to centrifugal force. Thus the liquid or weak acid .is separated from the gas and returns to the bottom of tower 11, while the residual as is discharged. The coil 17 may, if esired, be located in a tank 18, provided with water through inlet 19,'and having an outlet at 20. rlhis water may serve to cool or heat the coil, depending upon the use to which the entire apparatus is put. For the production of nitric acid, coolin water is required.

The processherein efore described is con-v tinuous and is prolonged until the acid 12 is suciently strong for the desired purpose. No moving machineis needed in the process, nor ne slots or openings which would be -Lml ocl

likely to become clogged by sediment, en-

larged by corrosion, or otherwise be disad-l It may be necessary at times to regulate.

the temperature of the acid l2 within the tower l1, and for this purpose, a coil 21 is provided through which either a heating or a cooling fluid may pass. At the bottom of the tank a valve 22 is located for drawing od' the finished product. A gauge glass 23 indicates the amount of liquid in the tower, while a thermometer 24 may be used for determining its temperature.

The active absorption space above the baffle plate l takes up the greater part of the space in the tower. Leading into the top of this space are the inlet valves 25 and 26,

' for the admission respectively of weak acid and 'air under pressure, when desirable.

It is of course possible to continue an absorption and condensation process through a plurality ot towers, such as 11. One instance in which this is desirable is in the manufacture of sulphuric acid by the socalled lead-chamber process. lVith this process, sulphur dioxide gas is absorbed, in the presence of nitrogen oxides and oxygen by water to form sulphuric acid. An arrangement for effecting this result by a plurality of towers such as ll is represente in Fig. 2.

ln this figure, the pipe 27 serves to convey the mixture of gases, SO2, air and nitric oxides into the chamber formed in the first tower 28. This mixture is pumped through the pipe 27 from the Glover tower 29, where vit has served to concentrate and cle-nitrate Ga -Lussac tower acid andweak acid, in a we l-known manner. The tower 28 is sirnn ilar to the tower 1l hereinbefore described,

its essential features being a nozzle 30, a

baille plate 3l, and an active absorption space 32 above the baffle plate. TWater or weak acid 33 fills the lower part of the tower. Some of the tog or spray formed by the stream of liquid and vapor hitting the battle plate 'is condensed in the coil 34, the remainder falling back as a rain to the bottom of the tower. The condensed acid falls from the coil 34 into the trough 35, whence it is conducted by pipe 36 to a' collecting vessel 37, from which it may run into a stock tank through the overflow pipe 38.- rlhe height of the collecting vessel and its position with relation to the absorption tower is such that the liquid in the pipe' 36 forms a safe liquid lock against the pressure in the tower.

The gases that have not been absorbed pass through the coil 34 and pipe 39 to a second tower 40, substantially similar to tower 28. rlhe condensation from the coil 41, however, passes through trough 42 and pipe 43 to the bottom of tower 28.

lA third tower 44 similar to the tower 40 receives the uncondensed vapors from coil,

41 through pipe 45, where the same process is repeated, the condensed acid being lead through trough 46 and pipe 47 to the bottom of tower 40. As many towers may be used as necessary for the complete absorption of the sulphur dioxide. From the last condensing coil 48, gases which consist mainly ot nitric fumes, residual nitrogen and a small part of excess oxygen, passv through pipe 49 to the Gay-Lussac tower 50. This tower serves to absorb the nitric umes, which are later liberated for use 1n the Glov.

tower 50 for absorbing the nitric fumes, itv

is possible to relieve it of at least a larger part of its work. This is due to the employment of the counter current principle. The acid produced in tower 44 is comparatively rich in nitric oxides, and as it is returned to the preceding tower 40, these nitric oxides are reintroduced. ln a similar manner the acid produced in tower 40 and returned to tower 28 carries with it nitric oxides. In this way, these oxides are made use of again and again without the necessity of employing Gay-Lussac and Glover towers as large as have been heretofore. used.y Absorption towers, as disclosed in Fig. 1, may be employed to serve the functions of Gay- Lussac and Glover towers.

Representative samples of the product may easily be obtained at drips 61, 62 and 63, and since these samples truly represent the condition of the system just before the samples were taken, a quick control of the entire process results.

The apparatus is compact and inexpensive to install. When used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, the need of supplying steam. to the chambers is obviated, and for this reason the upkeep expense is lowered.

l claim:

l. The process of absorbing gases or vapors in liquids which consists 1n introducing the gas into a body of the liquid and causing the kineticenergy ot the gas to c lqnvprt the liquid into a fog and condensing t e og.

2. The process of absorbing gaseslor vapers in liuids which consists 1n forcing a mixture o the gases or vapors and the iquid in relatively large masses against a surface so as to shatter the relatively large masses of the liquid into fine particles and condensing these fine articles.

3. The process of a sorbing gases or vapors in liquids which consists in shattering a mixture of the gases orv vapors and the iquid into a linel fog, and condensing the 4. The process of absorbing ases or vapors in liquids which consists 1n directing a stream of the mixture of gases or vapors and the liquids against a surface with such force as to shatter the mixture into a fine fog, and condensing the fog. 5. The rocess of manufacturing sulphuric acicl which consists in conducting a mixture of sulphur dioxide and nitric fumes into Water contained in a chamber, causing the knietic energy of the gases to direct a stream of the mixture of gases and Water against a surface in the chamber so as to shatter the Water into line particles, and condensing the particles.

6. The process of manufacturing sulphuric acid which consists in successively passing a mixture of sulphur dioxide and nitric fumes through Water contained in a plurality of chambers, causing the knietic energy of the gases in each chamber to produce a stream of the mixture of gases and the Water and project said stream against a surface so as to shatter the water into a fine fog, condensing the fog and permitting the condensed material to flow to the next preceding chamber from all chambers after the first, and into a receiving tank from the first chamber.

7. rIhe process of absorbin gases in fluids which consists in forcibly ischargmg the gas throuvh fluid contained in a chamber whereby th against a surface whence it discharges in a spray.

8. The process of absorbin gases in fluids which consists in forcibly gischarging the gas into a chamber containing luid and causing the discharging as to produce a fog of the fluid Within t e chamber.

9. The process of absorbing gases in fluids which consists in bringing the gas into contact under pressure with a fog of the fluid produced by forcibly discharging the gas through the fluid.

10. The process of absorbing gases in fiuids which consists in forcibly dischargin gas into a chamber having a constricte outlet, employing the kinetic energy of the discharging gases to produce a fog of the fluid and condensing the fog.l

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

ERIC HJ ALMAR WESTLING.

e fluid is projected in a stream 

